Crossroads Publishing Group
§ Distribution · Global reach, honest accounting
Global distribution. Honest accounting.
Crossroads books ship through IngramSpark, the largest book distributor in the world — the same wholesale catalog the Big Five use. Your book is orderable everywhere your readers shop, in print and ebook, in 190 countries.
What changes at Crossroads is not the distribution reach. It's the accounting on the back end and the honesty about what distribution actually delivers.
190
countries reached through Ingram's global network
39,000+
retailers, libraries, and bookstores can order your title
80%
of net receipts paid to the author, quarterly, per-channel reporting
What distribution actually means.
Most publishing prospects walk into the distribution conversation hoping to hear that their book will be on the front table at Barnes & Noble or stacked in airport bookstores. Most hybrids let that hope hang in the air. We'd rather name what's true.
Distribution means your book is in the catalog. When a customer at Barnes & Noble, a librarian at a city library, an independent bookstore in Chattanooga or Brooklyn or Edinburgh, a buyer at Books-A-Million, or a reader on Amazon, Bookshop.org, Apple Books, or Kobo wants to order your title — the order works. The book ships. The royalty accrues.
Through IngramSpark, Crossroads books are listed alongside titles from Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The wholesale infrastructure is the same. The metadata feeds are the same. The trade discount terms are within the same range. Your book exists inside the same supply chain that moves trade publishing.
Where your book is orderable.
U.S. retail
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Powell's, Hudson News, independent bookstores via IndieCommerce and Bookshop.org.
U.S. libraries
Public library systems, university libraries, school libraries via Ingram's library distribution channels (including OverDrive for digital lending).
International retail
Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.au, Waterstones, Chapters/Indigo, Booktopia, Fishpond, and 190 countries through Ingram's distribution agreements.
Ebook platforms
Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play Books, Kobo, Nook, plus library e-lending via OverDrive.
Print formats
Paperback (POD, in stock at Ingram), hardcover available on request, large print available on request. Print runs scale with demand.
Trade infrastructure
Ingram iPage listing for librarian and bookseller discovery, full metadata in ONIX format, returnable trade terms available, awards eligibility, trade reviewer submissions.
What we don't promise — and why.
We don't promise shelf placement. Front tables at Barnes & Noble, Costco endcaps, and airport bookstore placement are paid promotional placements negotiated by the largest publishers for specific titles with proven sell-through history. No honest hybrid press can promise them. Any hybrid that does is either misleading you or paying to test their luck on your title.
We don't promise bestseller status. Bestseller campaigns exist (you've seen the ads), and they cost between $5,000 and $25,000 per book to run. They produce a week on a list. They rarely produce sustained sales. We'd rather you spend that money on the manuscript and let the book earn its readers over time.
We don't promise foreign rights deals or audiobook contracts. In Year 1, Crossroads focuses on print and ebook through Ingram. Audiobook production and foreign rights are author-retained — meaning you keep 100% of those rights and any revenue they generate. We'll point you to vetted partners (Findaway Voices for audiobook, freelance rights agents for foreign) but we don't take a cut on rights we don't actively work.
This is the boundary we draw because the alternative is overpromising, and overpromising is the disease of the hybrid publishing category. We'd rather under-promise and over-account.
What we do guarantee.
- Global discoverability and orderability. Your book is in the catalog, with complete metadata, in print and ebook, available anywhere your readers shop.
- Per-channel quarterly statements. You see exactly how many copies moved through each channel each quarter. No "we'll send a summary at year-end." Quarterly, itemized, written.
- 80% of net receipts paid to the author. The 20% Crossroads retains covers sales accounting, royalty processing, tax reporting, and distributor reconciliation that would otherwise fall on you.
- Real ISBN, owned by Crossroads, listed under the Crossroads imprint. Not a free Amazon-issued ASIN. Not a shared ISBN block. Your book carries the press identity in trade databases.
- Trade reviewer submissions and awards eligibility. We submit to relevant trade outlets (Publishers Weekly, Foreword Reviews, Kirkus where applicable) and nominate for relevant awards (Foreword INDIES, IBPA Benjamin Franklin, regional awards). No promises on outcomes; commitment to the submissions.
- A press release at publication and ongoing catalog placement. Your book is announced into the trade and remains in the Crossroads catalog as long as the imprint exists.
The trade infrastructure is real. So is what we won't claim about it.
If you've talked to other hybrid presses, you've probably heard bigger distribution promises than the ones on this page. Some of those promises are accurate. Many of them aren't. The difference between Crossroads and a press that overclaims is not the distribution reach — the reach is largely the same across IngramSpark-based hybrids. The difference is what we'll say out loud and what we'll account for in writing.